Biden In Minneapolis: Wall St. Reform Critics ‘Squealing Pigs’

MINNEAPOLIS (AP/WCCO) — Vice President Joe Biden is defending the Obama administration’s efforts to reform Wall Street — and comparing Republican critics of the law to “squealing pigs.”

Biden told a raucous crowd in downtown Minneapolis on Tuesday that Congress had passed a law reining in Wall Street despite objections from presidential candidate Mitt Romney and other Republicans.

And while admitting the economy is recovering more slowly than once hoped, Biden described the objections of Republicans as sounding like “squealing pigs” and called the changes “some of the toughest Wall Street regulations in history.”

“We know how the movie ends,” he said. “It ends with a Great Recession of 2008; it ended by being a catastrophe for middle class families.”

Biden said a budget plan offered by Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., was neither new nor courageous.

“What’s bold about gutting Medicare and education to pay for tax cuts” for the rich? Biden asked. “We’ve seen this movie before, we know how it ends. It ends with the Great Recession of 2008. It ends with catastrophe.”

Biden said Romney had flip-flopped on trade sanctions against China by once denouncing them as protectionism but now supporting them. The vice president pointed to Romney’s former firm, Bain Capital, to criticize the Republican further on China policy.

“I wish he’d been that tough when companies owned by Bain were outsourcing thousands of jobs to China,” he said.

In the manner for which Biden is known, he took the stage in suit and tie, but quickly discarded coat and cufflinks. And to those who wanted a simple message, the vice president offered to write an Obama bumper sticker.

“Osama bin Laden is dead, and General Motors is alive.” he said. “That’s a bumper sticker; kind of sums it up.”

The vice president also made a surprise visit to the Minneapolis South High School football practice — and he took some surprise questions. He visited with the school’s players for about 25 minutes.

Biden caused a stir last week when he said Romney and other Republicans would put Americans “back in chains” in order to unshackle Wall Street.

The Obama campaign announced that Biden will be attending events in Florida on Monday and Tuesday, including a stop in Tampa on the convention’s opening day. Obama won Florida four years ago, but Republicans are hoping the weeklong convention will help them recapture the key battleground.

After his speech in Minneapolis, Biden asked reporters, “Any of you going to Florida?” He added, “I’m going to be the speaker at the convention.”